Since Humans Have Limits, I'll Stop Being Human

At this moment, Shiraishi Mori was already exhausted. Facing Abu's sudden, unprovoked strike, all he could do was hope that his Koukaku was hard enough to block the blade.

But the scene of being impaled that he had imagined did not occur.

Because a figure was faster than him.

That was the one who possessed the Rinkaku, Keiko.

The difference in speed between the Rinkaku and the Koukaku was displayed to the fullest at this moment.

His mother, Keiko, used her final strength, erupting with her greatest speed, with the sole purpose of standing in front of her son to take this fatal blow in his stead!

The sharp ninja blade pierced through Keiko's body without a doubt. The impact of the blade caused her body to sway violently, but she forced herself to stand firm.

With her back to Shiraishi Mori, she used all her remaining strength to reach out and grip the blade that had pierced through her body tightly.

Keiko turned her head to look at her son. There was no pain on her face, only a deep sense of reluctance and regret.

"Mori, I am so sorry. You will have to walk the path ahead on your own."

Shiraishi Mori's pupils dilated uncontrollably.

Bright red blood, the blood-stained ninja blade, and his mother, who was smiling with eyes full of guilt.

"No—"

Before he could say anything more, another figure rushed past him.

It was Shiraishi Ao.

He charged forward, swinging his thick Kagune, and slammed it heavily toward the enemy.

"Damn it."

Abu felt a sense of impending doom. He tried to pull back the ninja blade in his hand, but found he couldn't do it at all.

The mother he had just impaled had erupted with astonishing strength before death, a force so great that even Abu could not match it.

"Dammit."

He had no choice but to let go of the ninja blade.

But by then, Shiraishi Ao's attack had already arrived!

The dark purple centipede-like Weihe swept across like an unrivaled greatsword, landing fiercely on Abu's body.

Only then did a bleak smile appear on the half of Shiraishi Ao's face that had been burned.

At the very least, before leaving his son, he had bought him a glimmer of hope.

But this smile quickly vanished.

Because the enemy he had struck suddenly exploded into a puff of smoke, turning into a log that shattered into countless splinters under the immense power of the Weihe!

"It's a Substitution Technique, what a pity," Hidan said from the spectator stand, sounding quite regretful.

Simu's expression remained completely unchanged.

On the battlefield, Shiraishi Ao's expression quickly shifted to shock.

A figure emerged from the ground beneath his feet; it was Abu, who had quietly performed the Substitution Technique and then used the Dochu Senko no Jutsu to hide underground.

Like a venomous snake that had been lurking for a long time, he finally bared his fangs.

The sharp ninja blade easily pierced through Shiraishi Ao's abdomen.

Before Shiraishi Ao could even mount a counterattack, he dove back into the ground once more.

"Cough, cough."

Shiraishi Ao spat out a mouthful of blood and looked down.

A Kibaku Fuda stuck to the ninja blade was slowly burning.

Under his desperate gaze, the Kibaku Fuda erupted into a terrifying explosion of fire!

"Boom!"

The flames instantly swallowed everything.

Amidst the flickering firelight, Keiko struggled to open her mouth.

"Mori."

"Live on."

"Take care of your sister."

These three sentences had exhausted all of Keiko's strength.

The orange-red firelight could not illuminate her pale face, and the hand she reached out ultimately failed to touch Shiraishi Mori's cheek.

As Keiko's arm fell heavily to the ground, Shiraishi Mori collapsed to his knees, completely broken.

"Wh—why?"

"Why did it have to be like this!"

He grabbed his hair tightly, his fingers exerting so much force that it even tugged at his scalp.

His mother lay before him, her face filled with regret, while as for his father, he had been reduced to charred remains in the explosion.

He did not know why he had to endure such pain.

He was, after all, nothing more than a simple fisherman.

He only wanted to live his life well, to fish properly, to care for his parents in their old age, and to raise his younger sister; was there anything wrong with that?

The thick smoke from the explosion began to spread.

Shiraishi Mori knelt there, muttering to himself.

"You are too weak."

The words that man had spoken in the prison cell suddenly echoed in Shiraishi Mori's mind.

His eyes suddenly regained a bit of focus, and he slowly lowered his head to look at his own hands.

"Is it... that I am too weak?"

He whispered to himself.

"Humanity has its limits; only by transcending humanity can one obtain even greater power."

Another voice rang out, still that same man.

Shiraishi Mori opened his mouth involuntarily.

"Transcending... humanity?"

He looked at the pitch-black Koukaku covering his palms, then at the scarlet Rinkaku on Keiko's body.

Suddenly, his shoulders began to heave, and from between his trembling shoulders, an incredibly hoarse and low voice emerged.

"Since humans have limits, then I... will stop being human."

"Since one Kagune is not enough, then I'll have two, three..."

Shiraishi Mori raised his head, his eyes a sea of crimson.

The smoke slowly dissipated, and Abu squinted as he gazed at the battlefield.

Although he had achieved victory through his wealth of combat experience, his Chakra was almost completely exhausted.

Once he killed that brat, he would have to retreat.

But at least this should be enough to deter the other monsters.

He scanned the area with his gaze.

Sure enough, those Ghouls capable of maintaining their sanity were all watching from the sidelines, not daring to make a move.

Only a few Ghouls who had entered a berserk state were still attacking indiscriminately, slaughtering the nobles.

The smoke from the explosion slowly cleared away.

Because he had used his ninja blade wrapped in Kibaku Fuda to set a trap and kill that Centipede Ghoul, he now had to pull a kunai from his ninja pouch to use as a weapon.

Suddenly, the smoke that was slowly fading was violently torn apart.

Two dark red slashes appeared before Abu in the blink of an eye, moving like lightning.

Blood splattered!

Even though Abu had chosen to retreat the moment he sensed the attack, a diagonal cross-shaped wound still appeared on his chest.

Bright red blood gushed out, and ghastly white bone was exposed to the air.

Too fast!

That was all Abu could feel; faced with such speed, it was impossible for him to react.

Never mind his current exhausted state, even at his peak, he likely would have had no choice but to flee in terror.

Under the force of the slashes, the smoke parted to both sides like a curtain being drawn before the start of a play.

A figure of immense stature appeared.

Pitch-black exoskeleton completely engulfed the youth, and even his cheeks were covered by armor-like Koukaku, with a dark red luster like fresh blood shimmering upon it, revealing only a pair of eyes that were red to the extreme.

His height had surged to three or four meters under the enhancement of the Koukaku, nearly twice the height of a normal man.

Two scarlet, sickle-shaped appendages extended from the exoskeleton on his shoulders, the vibrant red seeming as if it were about to drip blood.

"This guy... what kind of monster is he?"